Identifying the Components of the Digital Transformation of University Libraries Using Meta-Synthesis Method

Digital transformation is a relatively new concept in the university library environment and has become one of the key concepts of success and sustainability for university libraries in the competitive information environment. Based on the reviews conducted on the subject literature, no research was found that could present the construction requirements and the factors affecting the digital transformation of university libraries. Therefore, the purpose of the current research was to identify the components of the digital transformation of university libraries.

The approach of this research was qualitative and the Sandelowski and Barroso's seven-step meta-synthesis method (2007) has been used. The statistical population of the research includes all the scientific publications related to the foundations and dimensions of the digital transformation of university libraries, counting the scientific publications retrieved from 12 scientific databases in the period from 2004 to 2022 (corresponding to the solar Hijri years of 1383 to 1401), which is based on the Critical Appraisals Skills Programme (CASP) and screening process.

Therefore, 32 works were selected for further review and analysis. In this research, first, a separate code was considered for all the factors extracted from the selected publications, and then considering the concept of each of the codes, they were categorized in a similar concept. In this way, the concepts of the research were determined. Based on the analysis done with the help of content analysis method, there are a total of 7 main categories and 24 concepts, including digital culture (digital attitude, user-oriented, agility, participation and cooperation, creativity and innovation, learning digital skills of employees), digital librarian (individual competence, knowledge competence, communication competence, skill competence), digital manager (individual competence, knowledge competence, skill competence), digital services and resources (optimally reorganizing library resources, providing digital services to users, providing digital services to the organization mother), digital technologies (digital infrastructure, technological readiness, use digital technologies), support and cooperation of upstream institutions and the mother organization (to provide human resources, to provide technological resources and equipment, to make macro policies), and Work process and development of digital strategy (digitalization of processes and development of library digital strategy).

The discussion of the digital transformation of organizations, including the digital transformation of university libraries, is complex, and managers and librarians cannot be expected to be familiar with these concepts without training or study and be able to move in the right direction towards the digital transformation of libraries. This research is the first research inside and outside of Iran that identified the components of the digital transformation of university libraries. The results of this research can be a good guide for an easy understanding of the effective factors and requirements of digital transformation of libraries and the importance of understanding it for managers and librarians.